"What makes programming languages are suitable or unsuitable as introductory languages? Which languages are better learnt first and at which order? And why what the masses think is the most suitable introductory programming language is not in fact that. This paper examines several approaches to which programming language is the best, and afterwards gives several useful relations for which languages should come first. Finally it gives a final verdict, defends it and then gives some other good food for thought."

How people think about the world around ultimately relates to which language will serve as a better starting point. For example: an object oriented model is not going to work very well for a person who thinks in terms of processes, but it may work better for somebody who thinks about how the various bits of a problem are related.

The other thing is that programming isn't just about the language. It also has to do with how you structure and solve problems. And while the author is correct by suggesting that an IDE has very little to do with that, the IDE does reduce the overhead in the learning process.